United Kingdom and Gibraltar European Union membership referendum
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Jean-Claude Juncker still sees "some problematic issues that require further work in the coming days". So the EU Commission President responded to the new Brexit proposals by Boris Johnson.
There was "positive progress," said Juncker after a phone call with the British Prime Minister. Meeting of the negotiation teams of both sides to Brexit are planned.
He confirmed to Johnson that the Commission would examine the submitted proposal for a legally binding text from the EU's well-known point of view. "We want a deal," it said. "We will stay united and work around the clock to achieve this, as we have been doing for more than three years."
Customs controls only decentralized
Johnson had suggested removing the guarantee clause for an open border in Ireland - the so-called backstop - from the EU exit agreement. As a substitute, he suggested that British Northern Ireland should continue to apply EU standards for agricultural products and other goods for the time being. At the same time, a customs border between Northern Ireland and the EU state of Ireland is planned. Customs controls should not be carried out there, but decentrally.
In a letter to Juncker, Johnson stressed that he wanted a deal with Brussels in order to be able to leave the EU "orderly" on October 31st. "There is very little time left," wrote the PM. If neither side succeeds in reaching an agreement, "it would be a failure of statecraft that we are all responsible for".
The Northern Ireland question is considered the most difficult in the Brexit negotiations. Both sides want to avoid border controls between the British province and Ireland in order to prevent a resurgence of the bloody Northern Ireland conflict. The catch-up solution agreed by Johnson's predecessor Theresa May provides that Britain as a whole will remain in a customs union with the EU if no other solution is found.
Johnson rejects this because London could then not conclude its own trade agreements with non-EU states such as the United States.